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entertained in our house now; and I would fain advise thee to entertain them in the best sort, i'faith, wife.

Chloe. In sincerity, did you ever hear a man talk so idly? You would seem to be master! you would have your spoke in my cart! you would advise me to entertain ladies and gentlemen! Because you can marshal your pack-needles, horse-combs, hobby-horses, and wall-candlesticks in your warehouse better than I, therefore you can tell how to entertain ladies and gentlefolks better than I!

Alb. O, my sweet wife, upbraid me not with that; gain savours sweetly from any thing; he that respects to get, must relish all commodities alike, and admit no difference between oade and frankincense, or the most precious balsamum and a tar-barrel.

3

Chloe. Marry, foh! you sell snuffers too, if you be remember'd; but I pray you let me buy

Gain savours sweetly from any thing;] When Jonson thus gave us the meaning of the Latin saying, Lucri bonus est odor ex re qualibet, he forgot that the occasion from which it took its rise was much posterior to the age in which the persons of his drama lived. WHAL.

Whalley alludes to the well-known anecdote of Vespasian: the words of the text, however, are a proverbial sentence as old in the world as the love of gain. The merit of Vespasian's jest consists in the practical application of them.

2

(6 admit no difference between oade, &c.] i. e. woad, a plant much cultivated in this country for the use of dyers:" Dict. The blue tinct with which the ancient Britons stained their bodies, is said to have been obtained from this vegetable.

3 Marry, foh! you sell snuffers too, &c.] These, with the articles enumerated above, seem rather awkwardly placed in a jeweller's shop: but trades were fewer, and less accurately defined, in Jonson's days; hence these collections of heterogeneous wares were to be found in every street. Chloe is a confirmed punster.

them out of your hand; for, I tell you true, I take it highly in snuff, to learn how to entertain gentlefolks of you, at these years, i'faith. Alas, man, there was not a gentleman came to your house in your t'other wife's time, I hope! nor a lady, nor music, nor masques! Nor you nor your house were so much as spoken of, before I disbased myself, from my hood and my farthingal, to these bum-rowls and your whalebone bodice.

Alb. Look here, my sweet wife; I am mum, my dear mummia, my balsamum, my spermaceti, and my very city of--She has the most best, true, feminine wit in Rome!

Cris. I have heard so, sir; and do most vehemently desire to participate the knowledge of her fair features.

Alb. Ah, peace; you shall hear more anon; be not seen yet, I pray you; not yet: observe. [Exit.

Chloe. 'Sbody! give husbands the head a little more, and they'll be nothing but head shortly: What's he there?

1 Maid. I know not, forsooth.

2 Maid. Who would you speak with, sir? Cris. I would speak with my cousin Cytheris. 2 Maid. He is one, forsooth, would speak with his cousin Cytheris.

Chloe. Is she your cousin, sir?

Cris. [coming forward.] Yes, in truth, forsooth,

for fault of a better.

Chloe. She is a gentlewoman.

Cris. Or else she should not be my cousin, I assure you.

Chloe. Are you a gentleman born?

Cris. That I am, lady; you shall see mine arms, if it please you.

Chloe. No, your legs do sufficiently shew you are a gentleman born, sir; for a man borne upon little legs, is always a gentleman born.*

Cris. Yet, I pray you, vouchsafe the sight of my arms, mistress; for I bear them about me, to have them seen: My name is Crispinus, or Crispinas indeed; which is well expressed in my arms; a face crying in chief; and beneath it a bloody toe, between three thorns pungent.

Chloe. Then you are welcome, sir: now you are a gentleman born, I can find in my heart to

4 A man borne upon little legs is always a gentleman born.] To this fashionable characteristic of a fine gentleman, there are innumerable allusions in our old writers; thus Browne,

"If small legs wan

"Ever the title of a gentleman,

"His did acquire it.".

And Beaumont and Fletcher,

-Brit. Past. lib. 2.

"I'll never trust long chins and little legs again;
"But know them, sure, for gentlemen hereafter.”

66

And see Massinger, Vol. IV. 278. Decker, in his Gulls Hornbook, evidently refers to this passage. Now, sir, if the writer" (of the comedy) "be a fellow that hath had a flurt at your mistress, or hath brought either your feather or your red beard, or your little legs, on the stage, you shall disgrace him worse than by tossing him in a blanket, or giving him the bastinado in a taverne, if, in the middle of his play, you rise," &c. Here Decker retorts on Jonson; the blanketting alludes to the punishment inflicted on him in the Satiromastix, and the bastinadoing to a circumstance of which (whether true or not) several hints are to be found in the same play.

5 My name is Crispinus, or Cri-spinas indeed; which is well expressed in my arms, &c.] There is probably some personal allusion here, which is now lost. Whatever it was, it seems to have distressed Decker, for he strives to parry the attack by introducing a miserable witticism of his own-" as for Crispinus, that Crispine-ass," &c. These barbarous attempts upon names, under the title of anagrams, were among the amusements of scholars in Jonson's time: he, however, seems to have had a fixed contempt for them.

welcome you; for I am a gentlewoman born too, and will bear my head high enough, though 'twere my fortune to marry a tradesman.

Cris. No doubt of that, sweet feature; your carriage shews it in any man's eye, that is carried upon you with judgment.

Re-enter ALBIUS.

Alb. Dear wife, be not angry.
Chloe. Gods my passion!

Alb. Hear me but one thing; let not your maids set cushions in the parlour windows, nor in the dining-chamber windows; nor upon stools, in either of them, in any case; for 'tis tavernlike: but lay them one upon another, in some out-room or corner of the dining-chamber.

Chloe. Go, go; meddle with your bed-chamber only; or rather with your bed in your chamber only; or rather with your wife in your bed only; or on my faith I'll not be pleased with you only. Alb. Look here, my dear wife, entertain that gentleman kindly, I prithee—mum.

[Exit.

Chloe. Go, I need your instructions indeed! anger me no more, I advise you. Citi-sin, quoth'a!" she's a wise gentlewoman, i'faith, will marry herself to the sin of the city.

Alb. [re-entering.] But this time, and no more, by heav'n, wife: hang no pictures in the hall, nor in the dining-chamber, in any case, but in

6 to marry a tradesman.] The quarto reads-to marry a flat-cap, a term of contempt usually applied to a citizen. See Vol. I. p. 45.

7 Citi-sin, quoth'a ! &c.] This exquisite pun on citizen serves very well to keep Cri-spinas in countenance. A little false spelling, I presume, (for I am no great adept in these matters,) is allowable where the effect produced by it is so very striking.

the gallery only; for 'tis not courtly else, o' my word, wife.

Chloe. 'Sprecious, never have done!

Alb. Wife

[Exit.

Chloe. Do I not bear a reasonable corrigible hand over him, Crispinus?

Cris. By this hand, lady, you hold a most sweet hand over him.

Alb. [re-entering.] And then, for the great gilt andirons

Chloe. Again! Would the andirons were in your great guts for me!

Alb. I do vanish, wife. [Exit. Chloe. How shall I do, master Crispinus? here will be all the bravest ladies in court presently to see your cousin Cytheris: O the gods! how might I behave myself now, as to entertain them most courtly?

Cris. Marry, lady, if you will entertain them most courtly, you must do thus: as soon as ever your maid or your man brings you word they are come, you must say, A por on 'em! what do they here? And yet, when they come, speak them as fair, and give them the kindest welcome in words that can be.

Chloe. Is that the fashion of courtiers, Crispinus?

Cris. I assure you it is, lady; I have observed it. Chloe. For your pox, sir, it is easily hit on; but it is not so easy to speak fair after, methinks.

Alb. [re-entering.] O, wife, the coaches are come, on my word; a number of coaches and courtiers.

Chloe. A por on them! what do they here?"

A pox on them! what do they here?] Chloe is an apt scholar:

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